Quick Tip

Tame Your Terminal: Unified Logging with `2>&1`

Challenge: You’re running commands or scripts and need to capture both standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) into a single log file for easier analysis.

The Solution: Use the shell redirection operator `2>&1`.

your_command > output.log 2>&1

Why it works: `>` redirects stdout to `output.log`. `2>&1` then redirects file descriptor 2 (stderr) to file descriptor 1 (which is already redirected to `output.log`).

Pro-Tip: To append to the log file instead of overwriting it, use `>>` for stdout: `your_command >> output.log 2>&1`

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/7/2026